Beaudenom, Léopold

BEAUDENOM, LÉOPOLD. - Ascetical writer, b. at Tulle on 23 Nov. 1840, d. at Puteaux on 21 Dec. 1916. A much sought-after spiritual director, chaplain of the Ursulines, in order to follow his desire to be a missionary he entered the Marists in 1875; but he could not continue because of poor health. Having returned as chaplain of various communities, he had to withdraw to Puteaux because of exhaustion, where, in the twenty years that remained to him, he wrote his ascetical works, attuned to the methods and doctrines of St. Ignatius and St. Francis de Sales, and out of humility he wished them to appear anonymous until his death.

Formation à l'humilité et par elle aux autres vertus (Paris 1897; Ital. trans. Turin 1938); Pratique de l'examen particulier d'après s. Ignace (ibid. 1898); Pratique progressive de la confession et de la direction (2 vols., ibid. 1900; Ital. trans. Turin 1935-40); Les sources de la piété (ibid. 1908, Ital. trans. Turin 1938); which forms as it were the third part of the preceding work; Formation morale et religieuse de la jeune fille (2 vols., ibid. 1906-11; Ital. trans. Turin n.d.); Méditations affectives pratiques sur l'Évangile (4 vols., ibid. 1912-18, the 4th posthumous; Ital. trans. Florence 1939). B. would have wished to add a 5th on the mysteries of the resurrection. Other posthumous works: Lettres de direction (Paris 1919); Orientation de l'âme vers la perfection (ibid. 1920).